Hi, Pamela S. Meyers here with more tips on marketing your new book.

The release date for my historical romance from Summerside Press, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (LFYLG) is fast approaching. April 1^st will be here before I know it!

My friend who made my book trailer for Thyme for Love is hard at work developing a trailer for LFYLG, and he came up with a fantastic idea to have me personally introduce the story at the beginning of the clip. In addition to the romance, the story centers on the Rivera building which was built in 1933, the year my story takes place. The building is featured on the book cover and is now an historical landmark. Anyone who has ever visited the town will immediately recognize the building.

We decided that I would start the trailer standing in front of a current day color picture of the Riviera and then seemingly step back in time and be standing in front of a black and white photo of the building taken from approximately the same spot in the 1930s.

Of course, a real studio is the ideal locale for recording this type of thing, but since neither of us has a studio, we created a mini
studio in my living room by hanging a green sheet on the wall. We then attached the camera to a tripod, and brought in all the lighting we could find. I stood in front of the sheet and gave my intro, then donning a cloche hat, a style from the 1930s, I took a step as I transitioned into the 1933 setting. Ed will use special software to add the two shots of the building behind me.

I only had about four or five sentences to deliver and I quickly learned it’s not that easy. We did about 20 takes before we got one we felt would work well. Each time I flubbed the lines or forgot to put on the hat as I transitioned to 1933, we had to restart. When I thought I had it mastered I started switching the last names of my heroine and hero. Of course we laughed a lot which made taking so many takes a lot easier to swallow.

Along the way I learned some things that might help you if you are game to try this.

1. Have a good camera. I don’t have a video camera that is strictly for video, but I do have a small digital camera that takes HD
   movies.
2. Use a tripod to keep the camera steady.
3. Use cue cards. I printed my script on a sheet of 8.5×11 paper, and we had it on an easel at eye level, but I had to shift my eyes to read it. I ended up ad-libbing, which worked until I kept giving my heroine the hero’s last name. He had to hold up a sign with her last name written on it so I wouldn’t flub it again. In retrospect, I’d tape the dialogue to the tripod underneath the camera. If you do this and have longer dialogue, a third person to hold cue cards next to the camera is strongly advised!
4. Lastly, have a lot of  patience and a sense of humor. We had to do a lot of takes to get it right. Check out the video of my outtakes at the link below . We did have a lot of laughs, which is always good medicine.

You can access the short video of some of the outtakes at:

http://youtu.be/tbfoJK0qMXM